An eleventh hour intervention by the Indian delegation at a major UN climate change conference in Bangkok pushed to centre stage the need for a dramatic shift in lifestyles rather than dependence on green-friendly technology for solutions to global warming. The call by the Indians to include lifestyle changes and behaviour patterns to mitigate climate change was “welcomed across the board,” said an observer at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a meeting that drew participants from over 120 countries.

“There was no opposition; it was approved without question,” added Catherine Pearce of the environmental lobby Friends of the Earth International after the close of the week-long meeting ending Friday, with the release of the Climate Change 2007: Mitigation of Climate Change report. The over 1,000 page report was the third such document circulated this year to address the dire consequences the world faces due to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the global response required.

“Changes in lifestyles and consumption patterns that emphasise resource conservation can contribute to developing a low-carbon economy that is both equitable and sustainable,” stated the summary of the report. “Changes in occupant behaviour, cultural patterns and consumer choice and use of technologies can result in considerable reduction in carbon dioxide emissions,” it added.

But this emphasis on shifts in individual behaviour to help cool an overheating planet does not translate into a call for sacrifices in lifestyle, leading members of the IPCC declared. “This is for a change of lifestyle without a change in comfort,” added Rajendra Pachuri, IPCC chairman.

The NGOs however interpreted this message differently. “It is a strong message sent to the Americans and Europeans to reassess their personal carbon footprint and help the rest of the world to achieve a common goal,” Shailendra Yashwant, climate and energy team manager for the South-east Asia office of Greenpeace, said. According to the World Wildlife Fund, an average US citizen requires 10 hectares of the planet to support his or her lifestyle, while an average European needs over five hectares. An average person in Africa, by contrast, draws on about one hectare of the earth’s resources to live.

The case made by the Indians is due to receive attention in China which has emerged as one of the leading producers of GHGs.

The solutions for greener future made in this report were aimed at preventing the Earth’s temperature increasing by a further two degrees Celsius to avoid an environmental catastrophe. For that, carbon dioxide emissions need to drop between 50 and 85 per cent by 2050. The economic cost of that, according to the UN panel, would be only 0.12 per cent of annual GDP. Among the key mitigation technologies singled out in the blueprint for change were switching from coal to gas, nuclear power, hydropower, solar power, wind power and, in the future, “advanced renewable energy, including tidal and waves energy.”

But the challenge that awaits governments to take a radical turn in their energy supply line is daunting, given that renewable energy accounts for only 13 per cent of the world’s primary energy demands, of which, biomass is the largest alternative energy source. — IPS